Going to a therapist in itself already makes a many people uncomfortable, but what if their wise and licensed confidant was actually just a fancy, upgraded Sim? Well, we may not have to wait too long to find out—a new computer program is already planning to be your depression-diagnosing assistant shrink.

With a host of improvements rumored for the next Kinect, it's a little surprising to see that…
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And what these cyber shrinks lack in humanity, they certainly try to make up for in bedside manner. As we see in the video, for example, after a brief uncomfortable silence, the patient mentions that he's from LA. What a coincidence! So is our young doctor friend. She "hmms," she's responsive, and most importantly, she cares. But the fact is that SimSensei is an aid—not a replacement, so you will be getting the full psychiatric experience, regardless.

Because as warm and caring as our robodoc sounds in the above video, that voice is unmistakably computer-based. It's hard to imagine that your body language won't be at least somewhat affected by the knowledge that, in reality, your essentially just talking to an empty room.[New Scientist via PopSci]